FUGITIVES AT LARGE IN MASSIVE FRAUD SCHEME

Nearly two dozen plead not guilty in $7 million scheme

San Diego 
The FBI is continuing to hunt for three fugitives indicted in a massive identity-theft and tax-fraud scheme that pocketed more than $7 million.

The three men are last believed to have lived in Los Angeles and Burbank.

Meanwhile, about two dozen others who were indicted in the scheme and arrested last week entered not guilty pleas in San Diego federal court Thursday afternoon.

The FBI characterized the scheme as a large international tax and bank fraud ring that used more than 3,500 stolen identities to file fake tax returns. The U.S. Attorney’s Office split the case into four felony indictments for the various branches in the plot, involving 55 people in all.

The biggest scheme involved more than 2,000 fraudulent tax returns being filed, seeking $17 million in refunds.

Serving as “foot soldiers” for the job were about two dozen foreign nationals from Eastern bloc countries who came to San Diego on short-term work, study and travel visas, according to the indictment.

The foreigners rented apartments in the county and opened post office boxes and bank accounts to collect and deposit the fraudulent tax refunds.

Two of the fugitives — Yermek Dossymbekov, 23, and Alisher Omarov, 25 — are accused of carrying out such activities. Many of the other visitors have since returned to their home countries, the FBI said.

A second indictment charges three people in another scheme of claiming more than $3 million in tax refunds from 400 false returns. One of the fugitives, Hovhannes Harutyunyan, 34, is alleged to be a leader. He would go by code names such as Anaconda, Snake, Cobra or Oz, the FBI said.

The third scheme involves eight people who are accused of obtaining information about wealthy Wells Fargo Bank customers, then sending in disguised impostors to withdraw money from the accounts, the FBI said. The impostors obtained more than $550,000.

The fourth indictment accuses 18 people of a scheme to defraud Bank of America by writing more than $600,000 in bad checks.

The two-year investigation, launched by the FBI, culminated last week in a massive takedown, with arrests in the Los Angeles area, San Diego, Las Vegas, Baltimore and New York.